In the for what it is worth department, I have spent several years working with traumitized teens and trauma learning is often deep and most therapy is simply application of coping skills to adapt to a functional life inspite of the trauma. The most effective therapies were those that allowed for re-learning at periods of heightened emotion/adrenaline and the periods immediately following these events. He used high ropes courses, climbing walls, etc... My reason for weighing in is that anything we can do to minimize trauma in these periods of elevated mood/emotion would only be a potential benefit. Connecting the dots from a teenager in a driveby shooting with a redtail ripped off his meal by the side of the road is a stretch but I for one think the idea is a valid one. Learning is always happening whenever we interact with our birds ... the question is what are we teaching?
Phil Smith
Rolla, MO (By way of Neah Bay, WA; Yakima, WA, Stanwood, WA; Anchorage, AK)